If you're a fan of Poe Dameron, you're in for a treat. This short YA novel serves as the perfect origin story for one of my favorite Star Wars characters, filling in the blanks about Poe's past hinted at in The Rise of Skywalker. Segura's storytelling does wonders for Poe's character development, achieving what the movie couldn't.

Don't expect a deep dive into Star Wars lore—this isn't for the ultra-nerds—but what you get is a fast, fun, and thoroughly enjoyable adventure. Segura's passion for the Star Wars universe shines through as he brings a young Poe to life with vibrant energy and enthusiasm.

Though the pacing wobbles a bit in the latter chapters, the well-developed characters, spot-on plot, and delightful continuity make up for it. Overall, it's a must-read for any Poe Dameron fan craving more of his backstory.

The author beautifully expands the story of one of Star Wars newest heroes, Poe Dameron. This is a must read for Star Wars fans and for any fan of space themed stories!

I LOVE Poe Dameron and this was such a fun and interesting look into the kid behind the man we know him as today!

A good juvenile Star Wars book. It was not for me but great for kids who love the world. It felt like it was constantly action rather than too much story.

This is a thrilling adventure. It is a Poe Dameron story. It is another Young Adult book and an easy-to-read book. It tells the story of friendship between Zorii Bliss, the young spice runner and Poe. It is a good Star Wars story. It is a story before his movie adventure we know his from, but we get to learn more about him. He sure has an exciting life and this story is part of that giving as a look at his time while spice running as a teenager.

I enjoyed the details. We learn some galaxy details as well. I also enjoy the inspiration for the story taking a character from Rise of Skywalker and expanding on it for this book. It was well done in that aspect. If you enjoy that sort of story then this is a good fit for you. If you are a Star Wars fan then this is a must read. Otherwise, if you are a Poe fan you might not feel his character is as well developed as you'd want or fit it does him justice in his backstory. The characters are well written, but other books are higher on my Star Wars reading list.

Listen. This was going to get five stars based on it being about Poe Dameron alone. The fact that this was fun and well-written is just a plus

Absolutely loved to get more depth and time with Poe. He`s interesting, funny, badass... Kind of reminding me of Han Solo when he was younger. But he`s also his own character. He f-up, but he also search to find his way even though it might be free falling (get it?) there.

When Zorii was introduced in The Rise of Skywalker, she was quick. She was fierce. She was someone I wanted to know MUCH more about.

POE DAMERON: FREE FALL fulfilled my desire, giving me all of that -- and more.

The writing's sharp, from the very first (on-page) flight of Poe to the nights he spends darting through darkened streets. There's no lack of adventure, and it's the perfect companion to the Sequel Trilogy (and one of its most compelling characters).

If you're a fan of Star Wars: Ep 7-9, you'll love this story for its extensions of the mythos and the lore. If you never failed to connect to its characters -- pick it up regardless. The character-building in this book will engross you in Poe's story, and give you a whole new appreciation of his on- (and off-) screen arcs.

...don't mind me as I go and watch Star Wars: Ep 9 again... :D

Free Fall by Alex Segura is the latest young adult Star Wars novel. Taking place when Poe is sixteen years old, that places it fourteen years after Return of the Jedi and sixteen years before the sequel trilogy. It tells the story of Poe’s time with the Spice Runners of Kijimi, who we of course meet in The Rise of Skywalker.

For me this was an average Star Wars story. I thought it was a very quick and easy read, and it moved along at a pretty fast pace. But it also didn’t really grab me the same way, say, Alphabet Squadron did. Part of that is because Poe just wound up being a so-so character for me, which is surprising because I love pilots, but he has been explored so much in the movies, TV shows, comics, and now books, but I’m ready to hear about someone else.

On top of that, there is this sense that this story was at least partially written to fix Poe’s backstory as provided in Episode IX. I want to give Segura credit right now for making sure this story was so much more than a canon fix. It has something to say and I agree with its messages. But it’s still stemming from one of the things that annoyed me the most in The Rise of Skywalker. Zorii says Poe was a Spice Runner until he abandoned them to join the Resistance. We know that’s not true from books and comics that have been around for a long time. It turns out what really happened is Poe was part of the Spice Runners for about a year and then he left to, my guess is join the New Republic, but the bigger implication is that he wants to stand for something more than himself. That’s all great messaging, but it just doesn’t gel with what the movie says, but that’s the movie’s fault. I think Segura did the best he could to bridge the gap between The Rise of Skywalker and what other stories have said, but honestly I wonder what he would have been able to write if he just got to tell the story of young Poe instead of the story of young Poe and how the history we knew from before wasn’t all wiped away simply because JJ couldn’t be bothered to check in with the story group.

Okay. That’s out of my system. I’ve said before that’s something I found very frustrating in Episode IX, but it’s done. And again, none of that is the book’s fault, I’m just coming at the whole situation slightly annoyed. Where Segura really deserves some praise is that he took something that could have been very surface level and made it something more. It’s not just a, “Here’s what happened to Poe while he was a Spice Runner,” story. It’s about why his time as a Spice Runner was important. The setup is very familiar for Star Wars. Poe is basically a kid stuck on a farm with a family that’s too afraid to let him go. I think it’s a nice touch that he lives on Yavin 4, a planet that is the ending point for Luke’s first adventure. But for Poe it’s a prison. That drives Poe to desperation, and he leaves with a group of smugglers. Luke ultimately leaves Tatooine to do some good, but he also wasn’t given much of a choice. It kind of makes me wonder how far Luke would have eventually gone to escape his life, I mean he wanted to join the Imperial Academy, after all.

A major theme of the book, I think, comes down to what Yoda tells Luke. Adventure. Excitement. A Jedi craves not these things. We all do crave experiences outside of our hometowns or immediate areas of existence. An escape from boredom and monotony, I mean who can argue that point in the year 2020? But don’t seek adventure at any cost. An exciting life without conviction? Without the right motivation? It’s empty. Instead, seek to do what’s right. Seek the light and adventure will eventually find you. An adventure worth experiencing.

But to take that a step further, conviction to the wrong thing, or even too much conviction to noble intentions, like justice, can lead to disaster. That’s where Zorii is different from Poe. She has plenty of conviction, but just because you’re dedicated to a cause doesn’t make it right. Her motivations are selfish rather than selfless, and Poe knows and has to grapple with that idea the whole story. There is an antagonist to the book, a New Republic Security Bureau officer obsessed with avenging the death of her family at the hands of the Spice Runners, but we all know vengeance isn’t a worthy pursuit. Star Wars has taught us that over and over. Something I like is that I think the main antagonist of the book might be Poe himself. His conscience keeps telling him the right thing to do and it’s Poe who is ultimately getting in his own way by not listening. The external forces around him don’t have a major influence on what he does, they just offer him choices and we get to watch him succeed or fail in making the right ones.

I think there is a lot of creative stuff going on with this story, and the themes all line up with what I expect Star Wars to say. It just wasn’t my favorite. Poe’s not my favorite character, and the whole Spice Runner thing has some baggage for me. It is what it is. But I think Poe fans will probably love this book. And if you’re interested in the state of the galaxy in between the original and sequel trilogies, there is some good stuff to find in here. Things build on what we know of the lawlessness of the Outer Rim thanks to the Mandalorian, and we get to see some of the struggles of the New Republic, even though it’s over a decade old at this point.

A coming of age adventure that give us the origins of Poe as a pilot. I truly wanted to love this, but ultimately it doesn't do enough to smoothly blend the inconsistent Poe we are delivered through shaky movie scripting. Kudos to this author for managing to make the "drug smuggling" a little less problematic.

This book provides the backstory of Poe Dameron, one of the major characters from the most recent Star Wars trilogy. Well-written and suitable for middle grades.

Reading about Poe was really awesome. He is such an amazing character in the movies so learning more about him and exploring other setting with him involved was great.

Not perfect, but still a good read. It filled in some of the blanks about Poe's past that are missing from the movies. It wasn't really anything to surprising and I wouldn't rank this book among the best of the Star Wars novels (even among the YA ones). I feel like the story could have been much better. Still, if you're a die hard Star Wars fan, or a Poe fan I'd still recommend picking it up and giving it a quick read.

The newest Star Wars book explores Poe Dameron’s spice-running days. Written by Alex Segura, Poe Dameron: Free Fall starts off when Poe Dameron is 16 years old and just wants to fly around the galaxy like his mother, when she was a pilot in the Rebellion. Unfortunately, his mother passed away when he was eight years old and all he has left is his father, who wants to keep him around at home on Yavin 4. One fateful evening though, a crew is looking for a pilot and Poe Dameron is looking to both leave his home planet and fly a ship, and both get what they want.


Zorii Bliss is a central part of Poe Dameron’s involvement with spice-running
Background for The Rise of Skywalker
Well, sort of. Poe Dameron enjoys his months of flying around the galaxy with this crew, especially since one of them is the similarly-aged and attractive Zorii Bliss, whom we see on-screen in The Rise of Skywalker, and a teenage relationship blooms. Yet, this crew turns out to be spice runners.


Throughout this book, we see a lot of retconning of material in The Rise of Skywalker, such as his spice-running days and learning to lightspeed skip. While Poe does not enjoy the spice-running activities, he does greatly enjoy the piloting and his time with Zorii Bliss.


We learn about what makes the Guavian Death Gang so dangerous in Poe Dameron: Free Fall
Galactic Underworld
Because this book takes place largely in the underside of the galaxy, we learn about the Pyke Syndicate no longer having such a strong hold on the spice market in the galaxy. We also learn about the Guavian Death Gang and how they can wear such strange helmets, and what makes them so deadly.

Conclusion
This book is geared more towards teenagers, and, at the end, Poe departs from his spice-running activities, and on to the next adventure in his life, which is presumably joining the New Republic Navy. Published by Disney-Lucasfilm Press, Poe Dameron: Free Fall hits bookshelves August 4th. If you’re interested in reading more about this book, you may visit my expanded coverage on Poe Dameron: Free Fall.

Alex Segura handled Poe Dameron’s backstory from The Rise of Skywalker as best as he could. It’s hard to give a character leniency so that they can be the hero they were in the movies while also giving them enough agency to acknowledge that they were at fault for their current situation, but this book was able to fit Poe’s arc into not only the movies but into the larger world of Star Wars publishing. It was so cool seeing a continuation of both his world from the comics and his new world shown in TROS, and while it’s never going to be perfect at least I can now see the Poe Dameron from the movies and the one from the EU as the same character.

DNF - did not finish. I decided not to finish this title. It was not for me. Thank you, publisher and Netgalley, and publisher for the early copy.

Unless you're a big Poe Dameron fan, I can't recommend this book. Although it does plug in nicely to The Rise of Skywalker and this new Spice Runner background that's introduced for Poe, there aren't any massive revelations. The book itself is also not the most well-written. There are many other much better options to turn to if you need a Star Wars fix.

If you are a fan of Poe Dameron and the sequel trilogy, you will find this a pleasure to read. It is fast paced, fun, and another wonderful Star Wars adventure that brings that galaxy far far away to new life in your mind.

So disappointing. I am a huge fan of the character of Poe, but this retconning of him into Han Solo Jr just does not work for me. I wanted this book to make me feel better about the develo[ment in his backstory, but as a reader of his Poe comics, it still does not feel like the same character.

While fun and entertaining to read, Poe Dameron: Free Fall ultimately feels like it was missing crucial pieces to the character of Poe Dameron. Poe Dameron's new backstory is full of missed potential, which in the end, affected how I felt about the book as a whole. Pacing wise, it was great, told through the hands of a skilled writer, but the plot itself left me needing more.